Health: When the Poison Is the Cure Homoeopathy Relies on the `Like-Cures-Like' Principle and Uses Remedies So Dilute That Not a Molecule May Remain. Science Finds It Suspect, but Many Patients Seem to Benefit. Professor Edzard Ernst Continues His Series on Complementary Medicine

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Homoeopathy: what is it? About 200 years ago a German physician, Samuel Hahnemann, began to conduct a series of experiments on himself, on family and on friends. These tests led him to develop a system of medicine which he later called "homoeopathy".

Homoeopathy is based essentially on two main assumptions. The first is the often quoted "law of similars" or "like-cures-like principle". It is based on a simple idea: if a healthy individual takes a given medication and experiences a symptom or side effect from it (say, a headache) this very medication is effective in curing the headache in patients who suffer from it. There are many examples to suggest that the "law of …